Want to learn more about Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji? Here is his biography, he is 90 years old and still travels the planet from India to the United States to offer his teachings.
Biography of Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji
Gurudev Chitrabhanu is a man of vision and the pioneer who as the first Jain Master in more than 2500 years brought to and established Ahinsa and Reverence for Life, the heart of Jain Dharma, in the Western World in 1970. His life story is an inspiring account of how he touched thousands of lives in a new land.
Vow of Silence — For five years he took a vow of silence (Maun), moving in the mountains, woods and villages of India. He experienced silence that stills logic of the mind and awakens from within the deepest intuition of the spirit.
Chitrabhanu – His books and poems stirred people’s good feelings. His poem Maitri Bhavanu (The Immortal Song), written under the pen name of Chitrabhanu, became very popular. His books abroad aroused considerable interest in Ahinsa and Jain Dharma. In Bombay, many foreigners came from various countries to study meditation and Jain Dharma and that is how his teachings became known abroad.
He is a world-renowned author of over twenty-six books which reflect his philosophy of world peace and nonviolence, emphasizing the need to appreciate the sanctity of ALL life and to build solidarity in the larger family of mankind.
Transformation— When the directors of The Temple of Understanding in India invited him to attend The Second Spiritual Summit Conference to be held in April 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland, he searched deeply within his heart to decide: What was his duty? What was his choice? He felt that it was important to involve all other religions and spiritual groups of the world and to make people aware of the blessings of Ahinsa. He attended the conference in Geneva and his inspiring message was received with a standing ovation. This led to the invitation from the Dean of Harvard Divinity School in America in 1971, and in the prestigious Boston Globe the Staff Writer said, “Munishree Chitrabhanu…was the “Hit speaker of the day….Explained the four basic tenets and that they do not depend on God, but upon themselves.” Invitations came from Paris, Munich, and even from the Secretary of the Vatican for an audience with Pope Paul VI in Rome.
His Work — He was the first to celebrate Mahavir Jayanti at The U. N. Chapel and he was the first Jain Master in 1973 to found a Jain Meditation International Center in Manhattan, New York City, near the United Nations. In his lecture tours to arouse people’s awareness of the beauty of ahinsa, the nectar for mankind’s survival, he spoke at various academic and learning institutions, such as Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Yale, Cornell and State University of New York. He visited many other centers in other countries: England, Africa, Japan (Kobe), Singapore, Hongkong, Muscat, Dubai, Berlin and India.
His stay in USA inspired Jains to create centers from the East Coast to the West Coast in the U.S. He guides the Jains and foreigners in sowing the seeds of nonviolence, reverence for life and self-realization, and nurtures them like a gardener.
Compassion — What draws people to him from all walks of life is his healing and compassionate nature that flows from an understanding of human everyday existence derived from long years of deep meditation and practical living. Any man’s suffering pains him. “Never stand to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”
JAINA — Because of his vision, he inspired Jains to have a federation of Jain associations and founded JAINA: Jain Associations in North America – the umbrella organization that has more than 100,000 members and 67 centers.
The new generation of Jains migrating to or born in North America has found Gurudev’s teachings inspiring. The bubbling energy of the youth as shown in the roaring success of YJA: Young Jains of America, an arm of JAINA, gives hope that the seeds he has been sowing have taken roots in fertile soil and are blossoming with fragrant flowers.
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